how many of you have noticed a decline in rabbit numbers over the years.if you have,when did you first notice this.my shooting partner and myself have seen a serious decline over the last five years even more so over the last 18 months,most of our permissions are now almost without rabbits .we picked up 2 permissions early this year with a healthy amount of rabbits,by the middle of the summer both are finished not a rabbit too be seen.some disease has gone through them vhd/rhd we think.we found no rabbit showing signs of mixy the rabbits just vanished over a 3 week period.

one permission I have has large marsh cutting it in half ,the side near the farm there is not a rabbit .the other side is well populated with them.rabbits don't seem to cross it I wonder if itsthat which is keeping the others well . my own land has a lot less than other years I have noticed .

6 years ago I estimate that I took around 1200 rabbits from the farm and stables in 1 year. 3 years ago that number was down to maybe 250, that coincided with a big hit of mixy in early summer. Since then the numbers have plummetted, once healthy warrens are overgrown and crumbling. Even land where I don't shoot is devoid of rabbits. VHD is the only thing I can think of that could have such a devastating effect. This year I've hardly bothered going out looking for rabbits because they just aren't there. My biggest worry is for the predators, foxes, badgers, weasels and stoats, buzzards etc who will struggle to find food. We've already seen a big increase in fox attacks on poultry locally, bins being raided and I have 1 fox who regularly picks up food that I put out for the birds in broad daylight. It's sad but they are an introduced pest species. I wish the same misfortune would hit the grey squirrel population though.

2 of my permissions seem to be devoid of rabbits at the moment, even though the warrens are still being used and freshly dug out in some places. I have walked around them at all times of day and night and only see 1 or 2 and thats not everytime I go out. Earlier in the year there was loads of them about my best night was 35, but its all changed since August - just after the corn was cut they just dissapeared.Kevin

been out several times .... not one bunny seen ... let alone to have a shot at !!! on 2 of my permissions , i havent seen a single rabbit for well over 2 years now ..... also noticed a MASSIVE decline in squirrels round here too

I've just spoken to one of my landowners, he's asked me not to shoot any rabbits on his land until the numbers recover. Like me he's concerned about the effect on the predators. When I left work at 2pm I spent nearly an hour with the binos driving around looking for any sign of bunnies, I saw 2.Doesn't look good does it?